Barney Frank's ENDA Press Conference

Yesterday Representative Barney Frank held a press conference. The clip is below.

Here's the bottom line, as far as I'm concerned. If we leave our transgender brothers and sisters behind, they will have to wait many, many years before they are afforded their due freedom from workplace discrimination. If we stick together, we may be able to achieve equality for all of us in the very near future. If not in this congressional session, than in the next. We've waited far too long to compromise, and we must remember that transgender workers suffer the worst discrimination. We simply can't leave them behind. As much as I admire Congressman Barney Frank, on this issue, he is tragically wrong.

Barney Frank's House Floor Speech on ENDA

This is a provocative excerpt from Barney Frank's floor speech on ENDA. What do you think?

Now, this is the issue: Does a political party say to its most militant, committed, ideologically driven believers in purity that they have a veto over what the party does? And I say that procedurally because substantively I agree with them. I have spoken on this floor and in committee for including people of transgender. I have argued that with my colleagues in private. I have argued that with the Democratic Caucus. But I also believe that I have a broader set of responsibilities than to any one group and my job is to advance the moral values that I came here to advance as far and as fast as I can and not voluntarily to withhold an advance because it doesn't meet somebody's view of perfection. And the question is, how do we relate to those people? And it has become an increasing problem for both parties.

Frankly, until recently I have felt that one of the advantages we Democrats have had over our Republican colleagues is that we were more willing to be responsible, less susceptible to the most committed minority of our party having a veto. I think from the days of Terri Schiavo and before and since, the Republican Party has suffered from that. I don't want the Democratic Party to suffer from it. Not because I want to protect the Democratic Party as an end in itself, but because the Democratic Party is the means by which these values I care about are most likely to be advanced.

And let me talk about this ideological faction that we have. There are some characteristics that they have that I think led them to this profoundly mistaken view that the greatest single advance we can make in civil rights in many, many years would somehow be a bad thing because it would only include millions of people and leave some hundreds of thousands out. And I want to include those hundreds of thousands. I have done more to try to include them than many of the people who say we should kill the whole thing, but I don't understand how killing the whole thing advances that.

Read the entire speech here.

More ENDA Clips

Congressman Rush Holt talks about FISA and ENDA with Jay Lassiter from Blue Jersey.

Protesting HRC in Washington and in Arizona.

An Interesting Perspective

Thank you Caucus President Jenifer Rene Pool for passing this on.

The LA Times sports writer Christine Daniels is a true hero for our community. She has been breaking down barriers since April when she announced to the paper that she, then Mike Penner, would begin transitioning her body to express her true gender.

Read about her transition here.

Christine offers a powerful perspective on the current ENDA fight. She is lucky enough to work in a place that rejects discrimination and celebrates Christine's heroic authenticity. Unfortunately, this is not true for many transgender workers who need protection from workplace discrimination.

From the LA Times:

ENDA: We've only just begun

The basketball expression for it is “low-bridge.” It is the dirtiest foul in the sport, the act of suddenly taking out a player’s legs as he or she leaps for a rebound, pass or to attempt a jump shot. It’s a cheap and devious move, often appearing to happen spontaneously but almost always pre-meditated -- and almost always a prelude to a fight.

That’s what happened to the transgender community during the past week. We were low-bridged. By -- of all people -- Democratic Congressional leadership that included Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi.

In a shocking upset, the transgender community picked itself off the court, dusted itself off, rubbed its newly scraped elbows and decided to fight back.

Frank, Pelosi and Co. didn’t know what hit them....

I realize I am lucky. California is one of about a dozen states with such protection for transgender employees. My friend Susan Stanton did not have that kind of backup in Florida and lost her job as Largo city manager in February despite a long and outstanding record of public service.

So I have a personal and professional stake in what’s happening to ENDA right now. So do you, if you care about the most basic rights being extended to a neighbor, a co-worker, a friend who might be transgender but afraid to tell anybody because a national ENDA is still but a concept being picked apart by some short-sighted political opportunists.

A program handed out at last month’s Southern Comfort transgender conference in Atlanta included several advertisements posted by gender-friendly corporations. One of them read:

“Whether or not it’s a choice, we’ve made ours.

“Before committing to treating GLBT individuals inclusively, some people believe that you have to answer the ‘choice or nature’ question.

“At PricewaterhouseCoopers, we believe that it’s not our business to decide.

“We accept you as the person that you are.

“Because when you can be yourself, you are happier, more fulfilled and more productive.

“We welcome among our professionals all persons committed to excellence, teamwork, and leadership.”

That sounds like the American way to me.

Read the entire editorial here.

HRC Makes Me Dizzy... and a Little Angry

After feeling some relief that Human Rights Campaign had finally signed onto a letter supporting the inclusion of transgender workers in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), earlier this week it seemed like they were, unfortunately, back peddling again. Several days ago HRC refined its position to say that they do, in fact, support an all inclusive bill, but they will not openly or actively oppose a bill that excludes transgender workers. That's not good enough, as it implies a neutral position on the fate of transgender workers.

As a consequence of this position, yesterday, Donna Rose, HRC's lone transgender executive board member resigned:

The current situation regarding ENDA is nothing short of a politically misguided tragedy. A tool that could and should be a unifying beacon on the heels of the historic passage of fully inclusive Hate Crime legislation has been split. Transgender brothers and sisters again find themselves separated, isolated, and disempowered. People in positions of power have decided that their personal legacy and the promise of political expediency are more important than protecting our entire beautiful community. The time is here to make a strong statement to demonstrate to them that they are wrong.

In 2004 the HRC Board voted to support only fully-inclusive Federal legislation. That decision paved the way to my participation with the organization, and was a significant step in the healing process. Since that time we have worked together tirelessly towards a goal of Equality for all. Less than a month ago HRC President Joe Solmonese stood before almost 900 transgender people at the Southern Comfort Conference in Atlanta to pledge ongoing support and solidarity. In his keynote address he indicated that not only would HRC support only a fully inclusive ENDA, but that it would actively oppose anything less. That single pledge changed hearts and minds that day, and the ripple affect throughout the transgender community was that we finally were one single GLBT community working together. Sadly, recent events indicate that those promises were hollow.

An impressive coalition of local and national organizations has lined up to actively oppose the divisive strategy that would leave some of our brothers and sisters without workplace protections. This effort has galvanized community spirit and commitment in ways few could have imagined, and it has demonstrated to those who would divide us that anything less than full inclusion is unacceptable Organization after organization has seized the moral high ground knowing that this is a historic opportunity that cannot be squandered, and that it is our moral obligation to ourselves and to generations that will follow to make a loud, clear, unmistakable statement that we are a community and we will not be divided. There is a single significant organization glaringly missing from that list. The Human Rights Campaign has chosen not to be there.

Read her complete resignation letter here.

The video below captures the speech Rose refers to in her letter:

This morning HRC has launched a "call to action." They are encouraging everyone to contact their congress members, demanding that the inclusive ENDA bill be passed.

HRC Executive Director, Joe Solmanese, released this statement in the form of a web video.

This is a stronger statement against the new, non-inclusive ENDA bill, but it still falls short of what our community expects. I appreciate HRC's efforts to help us contact Congress. Let's face it, in our community, no group has closer ties to capitol hill, but HRC has truly disappointed everyone by not showing proper leadership on this important issue. They were tragically slow to denounce the non-inclusive ENDA bill, and they have yet to release a statement that unequivocally rejects moving forward without our transgender brothers and sisters. Transgender workers need protection more than any of us.

HRC Breaks Its Silence; ENDA Vote Delayed

Human Rights Campaign has co-signed a letter demanding that transgender workers be protected from discrimination. Joining with a number of other prominant civil rights groups, including the ACLU and People for the American Way, HRC denounced changing the proposed ENDA bill to exclude transgender workers in a letter sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congress members Barney Frank and Tammi Baldwin. Since 1994, HRC has included transgender workers in their demands for equal employment rights, but they have been slower than other prominent LGBT advocates in denouncing a new version of ENDA that leaves transgender protection out.

HRC has posted the letter on their blog:


Thank you Human Rights Campaign!

The mounting pressure from LGBT groups appears to be having a positive affect. Late Monday Nancy Pelosi's office confirmed that the vote on ENDA, originally scheduled for today, will be postponed to later in the month.

LGBT groups have come out strongly against excluding transgender workers from protection.

From 365 gay:

"In this defining and morally transformative moment, our community has come together in an unprecedented way and said once and for all that we will leave no part of our community behind," said Matt Foreman the executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

"We appreciate that a decision has been made to slow down this process, and we look forward to working with Congress over the upcoming weeks to educate them as to why this substitute bill strategy is seriously flawed, convince them to abandon this strategy, and instead advance a fully inclusive ENDA later this month."

Lambda Legal has analyzed the new bill, and they fear that several provisions, beyond the absence of transgender protection, make the revised ENDA language unacceptable.

"Leaving out protections for transgender people is unacceptable, and passing a bill riddled with loopholes will make it harder to achieve equality on the job," said Kevin Cathcart, Executive Director at Lambda Legal.

"You can't be fired for being a lesbian or a gay man, but you can be fired if your boss thinks you fit their stereotype of one."

This is a huge loophole through which employers sued for sexual orientation discrimination can claim that their conduct was actually based on gender expression, a type of discrimination that the new bill does not prohibit, said Lambda.

Here's a summary of Lambda Legal's complaints about the new bill:

• As a point of clarity for the community: The recent version is not simply the old version with the transgender protections stripped out — but rather has modified the old version in several additional and troubling ways.

• In addition to the missing vital protections for transgender people on the job, this new bill also leaves out a key element to protect any employee, including lesbians and gay men who may not conform to their employer's idea of how a man or woman should look and act. This is a huge loophole through which employers sued for sexual orientation discrimination can claim that their conduct was actually based on gender expression, a type of discrimination that the new bill does not prohibit.

• This version of ENDA states without qualification that refusal by employers to extend health insurance benefits to the domestic partners of their employees that are provided only to married couples cannot be considered sexual orientation discrimination. The old version at least provided that states and local governments could require that employees be provided domestic partner health insurance when such benefits are provided to spouses.

• In the previous version of ENDA the religious exemptions had some limitations. The new version has a blanket exemption under which, for example, hospitals or universities run by faith-based groups can fire or refuse to hire people they think might be gay or lesbian.

Read their complete press release here.

We've Waited Too Long to Compromise

Sign this petition.

Let Speaker Pelosi know that transgender workers need protection from discrimination. Of our community, transgender workers are the most likely victims of employment discrimination. We can't allow congressional leaders to leave them out of ENDA!

Where's HRC

Leaders in Congress are considering removing protection for transgendered workers from the Employment Nondiscrimination Act. I think this is unacceptable. In fact, transgendered workers face discrimination more often than anyone else in our community.

Nine of our nation's most prominent GLBT Activists organizations have come out with strong, joint statement against this misguided compromise.

• PFLAG
• National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
• National Center for Transgender Equality,
• National Center for Lesbian Rights
• National Stonewall Democrats
• National Coalition for LGBT Health
• Pride At Work
• National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects
• Mautner Project

Here's the statement:

Our collective position remains clear and consistent regarding the status of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act. Our organizations oppose the removal of protections for transgender people from ENDA. We would also oppose any bill that did not protect transgender people.

We are shocked and upset that, according to the Washington Blade, influential members of the House of Representatives have apparently made a decision to remove protections for transgender people from the bill. If true, this decision was made without consultation with leaders of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

While we don’t doubt the sincerity of Congressional leadership’s intent to take action and be helpful to the LGBT community, we cannot disagree more with this strategy. We will continue to work with LGBT-supportive members of
Congress to urge their colleagues to immediately drop this strategy.

Where's HRC! I hope this isn't a sign that HRC accepts this terrible turn of events. Tell them what you think about their silence.

ENDA Deja Vu

We're all anxiously anticipating a rough fight for ENDA passage in the U.S. Senate this fall. We know too well how overdue this law is, but, for the first time in many, many years, we have a real shot at getting it passed. Democrats hold majorities in both houses of Congress, and the leaders of that party seem to have shed all apprehensions regarding GLBT worker rights. Let's not get our hopes up though. We've been here before.

In 1996 ENDA failed Senate passage by the slimmest margin. Amazingly ten years ago, even more than today, employment nondiscrimination looked like a done deal. President Bill Clinton had pledged to sign ENDA into law, and Representative Barney Frank lead and won an up hill battle for passage in the Republican controlled House of Representatives. Just as today, the slightest majority possible had pledged support in the Senate, and Vice President Al Gore was excited to leave the campaign trail in order to cast the tie breaking vote in the Senate. It's amazing that the same Congress that passed the Defense of Marriage Act was poised to pass ENDA also. Interestingly, that was part of the strategy. Barney Frank explained it this way:

"DOMA served as a stop-loss order for members of the Senate," says Frank. "In the past they always feared that if they voted for gay rights they would be accused of supporting a much broader gay agenda. When they voted for DOMA and ENDA, they could go home and say, `Don't tell me I voted for the gay rights agenda. I voted to ban gay marriage.' Members don't have this kind of cover this year."

Everything was in place, but something terrible happened. Arkansas Senator David Pryor was planning to support the Kennedy sponsored ENDA bill, but he was called back to Little Rock. His son, Mark Pryor, the current junior Senator from Arkansas, was undergoing an emergency operation just as the debate and vote commenced in Washington. From USA today:

A surgeon operating on a torn tendon discovered sarcoma, a rare form of cancer that is usually fatal. Pryor underwent 13 hours of surgery to have his tendon replaced in 1996. It was 15 months before he was able to walk again unassisted.

Fast forward ten years, and things seem eerily similar. Our country has made significant progress though. In 1996, general election exit polling showed that a slim majority of Americans agreed that GLBT workers should be protected from discrimination. Today, tolerance for GLBT has grown. Even Congressional Republicans fear being labeled a bigot. As their constituents have witnessed corruption, a failed foreign policy, and economic instability, regressive social policies seem trite and unimportant when compared to the many challenges our country now faces.

Here is an interesting article that fleshes out all of the details of ENDA fight in the late '90s.

ENDA Watch

The A.P. reports:

Gay rights advocates are optimistic Congress will soon move one step closer to approving a federal ban on job discrimination against gay, lesbian and transgender workers.

Representative Barney Frank and other knowledgeable observers feel confident that the bill will pass the house, but no one is sure about the senate. It could go either way there, and there has been no word from the president as to whether he would sign the law if passed.


Of course, this is why national politics is relevant to us. Texas is one of those states that tolerates unfairness and discrimination. Houston, pathetically, stands alone, as the only major U.S. city without a non-discrimination ordinance. ENDA would immediately change that. Every democratic presidential candidate has voiced there support for ENDA. We must get one these people elected next year. More importantly, we must defeat Senator John Cornyn. Two candidates are running against him. The Caucus knows Rick Noriega, and we know he'll stand with us. I'm sure Mikal Watts would also be far better than Cornyn on GLBT issues. So look into these fellows, and get behind one them. let's destroy Cornyn next fall.

Equality Texas has accumulated some key stats on how the rest of Texas delegation breaks down on this issue.

In 31 states, it is legal to fire someone based on their sexual orientation. In 39 states, it is legal to fire someone based on gender identity.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would make it illegal to fire an employee based solely on sexual orientation or gender identity. ENDA would reinforce the principle that employment decisions should be based upon a person's qualifications and job performance.

The bill currently has 165 co-sponsors, including seven (7) of the thirty-two (32) members of the Texas Congressional delegation: Lloyd Doggett, Charlie Gonzalez, Ruben Hinojosa, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Sheila Jackson Lee, Silvestre Reyes, and Ciro Rodriguez.

A vote on ENDA is expected in the U.S. House the week of September 24th.

A vote for ENDA is a vote for non-discrimination in the workplace. Quite simply, refusing to support ENDA is an endorsement of employment discrimination based upon sexual orientation and gender identity.

Public support for ENDA is overwhelming. Polls demonstrate that the vast majority of Americans support the principle of equal job opportunities for lesbian & gay Americans (89% in a May 2007 Gallup Poll).

Twenty-five (25) Texas Representatives have yet to take a stand for equality. What are they waiting for?

Visit Equality Texas to easily contact your representative in Congress. Let the know that fairness has waited far too long.

A Majority of Americans Support ENDA

Harris Interactive and Witeck-Combs have just released poll results showing that 67% of Americans support the passage of ENDA in the U.S. Congress. This is great, as it indicates that not supporting the bill would be a political liability for many members of Congress who have been cautious on this issue in the past.

Beyond this though, the study uncovered several other interesting trends that point to incredible progress in our fight for equal rights:

• In 2007, 54 percent of GLBT adults are comfortable having a photo of their spouse, partner or significant other on their desk, compared to only 34 percent in 2002 who felt this way.
• In 2007, 64 percent of GLBT adults are comfortable introducing their spouse, partner or significant other to their co-workers, compared to 50 percent in 2002 who said they would be comfortable doing this.

The study does not indicate that discrimination no longer exists though. 51% of gay workers cited incidents of harassment at work. In recent reports, The William's Institute has also detailed the prevalence of workplace discrimination.

You can find a more thorough discussion of the poll results here.

Working Out

Next week the Caucus will vote to endorse candidates running for Houston City Council. The issue of employment discrimination always dominates our screening of candidates running for city office, and for good reason. Being the only major American city that does not guarantee GLBT people equal treatment in the workplace and equal, unbiased treatment when applying for jobs, Houston is sadly unique in this country.

With this in mind, I'd like to focus today's entry on two new reports that examine GLBT treatment in the workplace. The first study, HRC's "State of the Workplace for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Americans," shows a number of positive developments.

From HRC Back Story:

This year's report found an increase in the number of Fortune 500 employers that offer domestic partner benefits since last year - up from 250 to 267. This is also good news: almost 90% of Fortune 500 companies have anti-discrimination policies that include sexual orientation. And just how is the state of the workplace for the "T" constituency of our community? It seems that things are looking positive. Today, 25% percent of Fortune 500-ranked companies prohibit discrimination against transgender employees and applicants, compared to just 1 percent at the beginning of 2000.

The second report comes from the Williams Institute. Their report collects raw data from many different studies undertaken over the last two three decades. The Williams Institute does great work, and you can read their complete report here.

Here is a chart summarizing statistics about discrimination from the many studies they compared:


Lots of progress is being made, but, as the Williams Institute report illustrates, without government mandated nondiscrimination GLBT workers are too often treated unfairly. Some studies have found that nearly 70% of GLBT workers have gone through some form of discrimination in their careers. Studies show that transgendered people suffer even worse. There is an earning gap between GLBT professionals and straight professionals, but, of course, we all know these things. What are we going to do about it?

This year, for the first time, we have the chance to gain a majority on City Council. Come to our meeting, and help us pick the candidates that we'll back all the way to city hall.

ENDA to be introduced today

Press release from Barney Frank's Office:

Washington, DC--Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA), Deborah Pryce (R-OH), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Christopher Shays (R-CT), along with representatives from the religious, corporate and advocacy community, will hold a press conference to announce the reintroduction of the bipartisan Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) on Tuesday, April 24 at 1:00 p.m. Every year, qualified hard-working Americans are denied job opportunities because of who they are. Countless others live in fear of losing their jobs. In 33 states, it is legal to fire someone who is otherwise qualified simply because of his or her sexual orientation; the same is true in 42 states based on gender identity. The proposed legislation will extend important federal employment protections to gay men and lesbians and will prohibit employment discrimination based on gender identity.

Garnet Coleman and Jessica Farrar Stand Up for the GLBT Community

By introducing an important bill amending the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act to include transgender Texans, yesterday, State Representative Garnet Coleman lived up to his reputation as a bold leader. Garnet Coleman is certainly one our best allies in the state legislature. Achieving GLBT equality is obviously one of his top priorities. He’s even designated one of his four email alerts exclusively to GLBT issues. Sign up here to stay connected.

Coleman is not alone though. Houston is lucky to have several great state representatives advocated for us on the floor of the Texas house. Jessica Farrar has already filed three bills aiming to end discrimination of GLBT.

Farrar’s House Bill 305 will protect GLBT students from discrimination at school:

A public educational institution or employee of a public educational institution may not discriminate against a student enrolled in the institution on account of the ethnicity, color, gender, gender identity, sexual preference, disability, religion, or national origin of the student or the student's parent.

Jessica Farrar has also filed a bill to secure employment non-discrimination for GLBT.

Of course, the GLBT Political Caucus is extremely grateful for excellent leaders like Garnet Coleman and Jessica Farrar, but, as political activists, we should also proudly claim credit for these audacious steps forward. It is not likely that any of these bills will pass, but when we work to elect progressive candidates we accelerate the pace of justice for our community. On the May 12 special election, we have an opportunity to claim another friendly seat on the Houston City Council. Please participate in our endorsement meeting on March 7th, 7:00 PM at the community center.